C. A. Earle Rinker letter to his mother, Feb. 26, 1908, page 2

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I was over to John's Sunday evening but did not go over for dinner. Chadama and I had intended to go over there but the snow was so deep that I saw him about noon and we called the trip off. Then in the afternoon it cleared off and I saw it was going to freeze up and I made the trip by myself. They were feeling O.K. John had only got to work two days until the snow came on and he did not report. Said he didn't go out and expose himself even if he has had a long rest. He works when he feels like it. He is always ready to work though under reasonable conditions.The papers are making a big bluff about the reduction in the cost of living here. You may have seen in the paper where they were thinking of of cutting water to 1 cent a gallon but we have not met a reduction yet for we still pay the same old price. The paper come out this morning and made a big bluff about the reduction. The paper said coal and wood was reduced 75%. Well they figured on the prices that prevailed last winter when we had no wood and coal and people were begging it at $5.00 a sack. You can't buy good coal now for less than $20.00 per ton. We pay the same old price for nearly all groceries. Now you don't need to worry about us not having enough water. We have a big tub over home that makes the finest kind of a bath tub abd we use it too.Yes there are prickly pear castuses out here. When I was going down to Montanna Station or Bonnie Calire with that horse I stopped by a big cactus and tried to pull off a piece. I grabbed it with my bare hand and I tellyou the effects lasted a while. I finally broke a piece off and put it in an envelope and brought it back with me and tried to keep it but it soon wilted and died.The strike don't seem to be much brighter here but the Baby Florence started to work this morning getting the mine cleaned out and getting the shaft is shape to go to work again. I really